Cancer Should Now Be Referred To As "Indolent Lesions of Epithelial Origin." Please Make A Note Of It, Comrades...

According to this, the almighty government now wants to "reduce the number of Americans diagnosed each year with cancer." Which is, like, totally benevolent, don't you think? The only problem with that is the fact that the same amount of people will actually HAVE cancer. But our government healthcare overlords are just going to DIAGNOSE less people with cancer now.

Because - as a reminder - the federal government is now in charge of your healthcare, everyone.

Congratulations!

And consequently, they're now in the business of redefining the term "cancer" so that "fewer conditions qualify as a true cancer," even though those conditions are, you know, actual cancer.

Yep.

On July 29, 2013, a working group for the National Cancer Institute (the main government agency for cancer research) published a paper proposing that the term “cancer” be reserved for lesions with a reasonable likelihood of killing the patient if left untreated. Slower growing tumors would be called a different name such as “indolent lesions of epithelial origin” (IDLE). Their justification was that modern medical technology now allows doctors to detect small, slow-growing tumors that likely wouldn’t be fatal. Yet once patients are told they have a cancer, many become frightened and seek unnecessary further tests, chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery. By redefining the term “cancer,” the National Cancer Institute hopes to reduce patient anxiety and reduce the risks and expenses associated with supposedly unnecessary medical procedures. In technical terms, the government hopes to reduce “overdiagnosis” and “overtreatment” of cancer.

So, let's recap a bit here. The government is seeking to redefine the term cancer so that they can "reduce patient anxiety and REDUCE THE EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH UNNECESSARY MEDICAL PROCEDURES."

They want to "reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancer," you see. I mean, if you're diagnosed with cancer and it's CALLED cancer, you're going to want to fight the cancer in your body, right? That's usually the normal human response. But if you're diagnosed with "indolent lesions of epithelial origin" and you're a lemming who voted for the dude currently in the White House, then you're going to be all, "OOOOOOOH....OK. So I only have indolent lesions of epithelial origin? OMG THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER! Alrighty then, Doc. Then no rush on helping me out or rushing into any pesky treatment then. I'll just wait over here while we let that cancer fester for a while. Someone pass me more of that super-yummy Kool-Aid and my free phone!"

Gawd.

I'd also like to point out that this little tidbit was in Forbes. And nowhere out there on a lamestream media outlet. Because Obamacare. And free! And rainbows. And Skittles and sunshine.

I mean, this is just semantics, after all. There's really nothing to see here, comrades.